The gap has narrowed a lot since this post, but no matter what the geography, I am shocked that a third of viewers thought this was a 10!
70% of US users have currently rated it 9 or 10:
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0020514/ratings-usaBut then about 50% of non-US users have rated it as 8 or above -- albeit the overwhelming majority as an 8 -- so it's either "Sunset Boulevard"/"Swanson on Swanson" fans turning out en masse, or a general feeling that the film
must be a classic. Or it really is, and we're missing something!
Wow. It's certainly watchable, but it's almost a parody of Swansonesque histrionic melodrama. Anyway, I'm a U.S. American who's seen hundreds of 20s films, and I find this to be mediocre fare.
I rated it a little lower than that, but then I was disappointed after Swanson's own enthusiastic recollection of it (in her autobiography).~~Igenlode Gather round, lads and lasses, gather round...
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Local Hero
11 years ago
The film has been shown on US television (Turner Classic Movies), which is how I saw it, but I do know that it has also screened in theaters. Seeing an old silent on the big screen can make the movie feel special, especially as the visuals feel more spectacular and as crowd reactions can intensify the experience. Also, the US has a special predilection for aspects of camp in films, and we also glamorize, if not fetishize, old movie stars like Swanson. Maybe these are factors in the high popularity of this film in America.
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Igenlode Wordsmith
11 years ago
The film has been shown on US television (Turner Classic Movies), which is how I saw it, but I do know that it has also screened in theaters. Seeing an old silent on the big screen can make the movie feel special, especially as the visuals feel more spectacular and as crowd reactions can intensify the experience.
Yes, I saw it on the big screen at the London Film Festival (with a guest, which is why I feel a bit hard-done by -- not only did my recommendation turn out to be a turn-off, but the two tickets were rather expensive!). But sadly I don't remember what the audience reaction was like.(I do remember some films where I have been extremely annoyed by people giggling at what they saw as 'camp' aspects which obviously weren't intended as such, so I'm assuming this wasn't one of them...)But I also saw "Wings" at the LFF, on the other hand, which was brilliant . Not perfect, but brilliant for all that.Anyway, I suppose we should be glad that silent films still have a loyal fan following... even the ones that we personally happen not to like!~~Igenlode, who hasn't seen a silent for a while Gather round, lads and lasses, gather round...
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Local Hero
11 years ago
Wings on the big screen would be a treat! Some of those flying shots are still impressive by today's technical/visual standards.
Anyway, I mentioned my sense of The Trespasser as mediocre on the discussion forum for ICheckMovies -- a place where people have seen frightening numbers of films -- and I was immediately confronted by someone who LOVED the film.
The numbers are so big in favor of this film that I think you and I just need to accept that there are elements in this film that many people find really impressive and we missed. Anyway, I didn't dislike the film; I just found it to be a limp variation on so many other silent film plots that handle it so much better. For example, I saw Hindle Wakes in the same week, and it has loosely (loosely) similar plot elements, but it does it in a way that felt fresh and in some ways powerful to me.
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